When Dan Vogler, Michigan’s largest commercial fish farmer, purchased the Grayling Fish Hatchery two years ago, the 45-year-old producer was widely viewed along the banks of northern Michigan’s Au Sable River as a civic hero. The 98-year-old hatchery, built to replenish the region’s grayling and rainbow trout fishery, closed in the 1960s, reopened in 1983, and then changed ownership and management three times in 30 years.

Vogler’s plan was to end decades of institutional uncertainty by expanding production of farmed trout for state markets while also ensuring that the stream of summer tourists to the historic hatchery could continue to feed and catch trout (50 cents an inch) in pools filled with the Au Sable’s famously clean and cold water. Read more …

Last week, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) joined local and state officials, and representatives from the University of Delaware and the Center for the Inland Bays to announce two federal grants to support the development of oyster farming in Delaware’s Inland Bays.

“These grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce and USDA Rural Development will look into the business potential for Delaware shellfish aquaculture,” said Carper. “Oyster farming is a win-win for Delaware, since oysters improve water quality and farming will create another local industry that provides jobs. There is good work being done in Delaware by both public and private partners, and these grants will help further that research.” Read more …

There has been recent interest by the aquaculture/baitfish industry and regulators to develop some type of certification/verification program to ensure that AIS-HACCP/Aquaculture Biosecurity procedures are actually in place and working. Such a certification/verification program does not exist in the North Central Region, thus pilot programs for Michigan and Minnesota will be explored and will be discussed at the workshop.

Heart disease is the biggest avoidable killer in the United States of America and it costs the US economy around $273 billion to treat. Here, Linda Cornish, Executive Director, Seafood Nutrition Partnership, speaks to Lucy Towers, TheFishSite.com Editor, about the importance of seafood for improving the health of America and the role aquaculture plays in increasing fish consumption. Read more …

The 2013 Census of Aquaculture expanded the aquaculture data collected from the 2012 Census of Agriculture and provides a current and comprehensive picture of the aquaculture sector at the state and national level. The aquaculture census collects detailed information relating to production methods, surface water acres and sources, production, sales, point of first sale outlets, and aquaculture distributed for restoration, conservation, enhancement, or recreational purposes.

Sadly, not every food or beverage enjoys such universal adoration (read: addiction) that established purveyors can simply give the stuff away to enthusiasts, hoping such a gesture will engender some brand loyalty. Take seafood, which has its own month (in the United States, at least) and is still plunging in popularity, based on a U.S. per-capita consumption rate showing a 13 percent decline over the past decade (16.6 pounds in 2004 to 14.4 pounds in 2013). Read more …

Fish waste for profit – maximising return: utilising the entire fish, the first IceFish Conference held on the first day of the Icelandic Fisheries Exhibition, provided delegates with a fascinating insight into the many products can be made from previously discarded parts of fish.

Thor Sigfusson, Managing Director of the Iceland Ocean Cluster (Sjavarklasinn) and Sigurjon Arason, Chief Engineer at MATIS opened the conference, which was held in association with MATIS. Read more …

Several doctors and organizations are encouraging the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to update its 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) to include more seafood.

The USDA accepted public comments ahead of its public meeting on 16-17 September in Washington, D.C. This is the fifth and final public meeting before the USDA releases the final draft guidelines in early 2015.

Commenters in support of Americans eating more seafood are urging the USDA to recommend that the public eat two to three seafood meals weekly, while some individuals and organizations say the USDA should caution Americans to eat only eat sustainable seafood and seafood low in methyl mercury. Read more …

Longtime fish farmer and former Villa Organic CEO Johan Andreassen is planning a bet on inland farming of Atlantic salmon in the United States.

Now the chairman of Norway-based Atlantic Sapphire, Andreassen is in the permitting process for a $250 million-$300m salmon farm in Homestead, Florida, capable of producing 30,000 metric tons a year of whole gutted Atlantic salmon for the US market. Read more …